Neanderthal Republicans sticking with failed 20th Century Health Care policies and theories, supported by lies!

Reminder: The following topic would not exist if we just had universal health care.

Locked in the 1900's: Republican Rep. Mark Born revealed the real reason our gerrymandered conservative legislature opposes life saving Medicaid expansion for 90,000 people, half of whom are not currently insured; profits! 

This was the whole point of Scott Walker's bastardized version of expanding (not really) welfare; Walker wanted to keep people in the private health care market so they could to pay high premiums and out of pocket costs that maintained insurer profits. He wasn't shy about that either.

WELFARE first: Notice how the Vos-Republicans are repeating the BIG LIE that health care for the poor is WELFARE. We're talking about a basic fundamental right to "promote the general WELFARE" of our civil society. Also, did you know access to medical care is a "life of poverty" trap?

Bad at Math? As for those "lower Medicaid reimbursement rates," the Republicans cruel and ghoulish health agenda is built on lying about that, because Governor Evers budget proposal subsidizes those rates:

"Expanding coverage and increasing Medicaid reimbursement for hospitals as well as primary care and specialty providers will reduce uncompensated care." 

Credit WKOW's Capitol City Sunday host A. J. Bayatpour, for coaxing Rep. Mark Born to repeat the lie again and again:

Rep. Born: "We've got people right now covered on private insurance, through the exchange...we know that the private insurance gives them better coverage and better payments to our health systems... that (expansion is) going to have a negative impact on how these health care providers are paid...which then requires private pay and private insurance to make up the difference so we're going to see rates go up for other folks...but those people have coverage on our private insurance, which we know is better for our system, for our health systems."

Again, from Evers 2021-22 budget...

Republicans aren't really against premium increases. Only as far back as 2017 Republicans in Congress were okay with premiums going up to pay for state "high risk pools," even on seniors:  

1. State waivers would allow insurers to charge older customers higher premiums by as much as they'd like.

At the same time in Wisconsin, this bait and switch scam bubbled up:

Gov. Scott Walker, as part of his election-year health care plan, requires insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions but allows the state insurance commissioner to alter protections, possibly by re-establishing a high-risk pool for such people.

"Re-establishing high risk pool..." and their losses! Think of these pools as a maze you're told to navigate if you want coverage bad enough. How effective were the high risk pools Walker wanted to revive? Hint-they lost money and raised individual insurance premiums:

Wisconsin's high-risk pool insured about 21,000 people, with critics saying high prices kept tens or hundreds of thousands of others from accessing it. Those applying for the program had to wait six months before they were allowed into it and a lifetime cap of $2 million. Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan lost $6.9 million in 2011, roughly a third of which was offset by a federal grant, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The same year, programs in the 35 states lost a total of at least $272 million.

Recession Proofing Health Care: Times have changed, so with Medicaid expansion, future economic downturns are covered: 

Jason Stein, Research Director for the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum, said the debate has taken on a different look this year because more than 200,000 new enrollees have signed up for BadgerCare during the pandemic. "We've had an enormous expansion of the program just because you've had higher unemployment."